cafeteria

A2 Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˌkæfəˈtɪ(ə)ɹi.ə/ UK /ˌkafəˈtɪə̯.ɹi.ə/ See IPA manual

Freq #8259

Meanings

1

noun
A self-service restaurant where you choose your food and carry it to a table, often in a school or workplace.

We had lunch in the school cafeteria.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a self-service restaurant... canteen

More lunchroom

Word family

Forms cafeterias

Derived forms booketeriabuffeteriacafeteria-stylecafeterialgroceterialuncheteria

Related forms cafcafecafetoriumcaffdrugeteriawasheteria

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

cafeteria tray
a tray used to carry food in a cafeteria

Noun + noun

Etymology

Borrowed from Mexican Spanish cafetería (“coffeehouse”), from cafetera (“coffee maker”), from French cafetière, from café, from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve) (Turkish kahve), from Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa, “coffee”). Doublet of cafetière.

cafetière French قهوه ota قَهْوَة Arabic ق ه ي Arabic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink

External links

# cafeteria

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˌkæfəˈtɪ(ə)ɹi.ə/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌkafəˈtɪə̯.ɹi.ə/
**Frequency rank:** 8259

## Meanings
1. A self-service restaurant where you choose your food and carry it to a table, often in a school or workplace.

## Examples
- We had lunch in the school cafeteria.

## Synonyms
- lunchroom

## Derived Forms
- booketeria
- buffeteria
- cafeteria-style
- cafeterial
- groceteria
- luncheteria

## Related Forms
- caf
- cafe
- cafetorium
- caff
- drugeteria
- washeteria

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: cafetière
- Root: قهوه
- Root: قَهْوَة
- Root: ق ه ي

## Etymology
Borrowed from Mexican Spanish cafetería (“coffeehouse”), from cafetera (“coffee maker”), from French cafetière, from café, from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve) (Turkish kahve), from Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa, “coffee”). Doublet of cafetière.

## AI Etymology
Cafeteria was borrowed from Mexican Spanish cafetería (“coffeehouse”), from cafetera (“coffee maker”), from French cafetière, from café, from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve) (Turkish kahve), from Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa, “coffee”). Doublet of cafetière.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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